But are you staying put out of fear of change? Discover the truth behind your growth as a leader of your personal, business and financial growth and success.

Are you at a crossroads in your career or business? Do you feel the tension between your happiness, your ambitions and your growth potential, but let the fear of taking the wrong turn guide you? Do you dare to change? Rethink your vision? Leaving your comfort zone and building your impact and legacy.

The fear of change

"Change does not mean starting over." A powerful quote that goes to the heart of personal and business growth. Yet many feel that fear of taking the leap. The reality is that change often evokes resistance. For fear of losing what you have, you don't dare jump into the unknown. Are you staying put for fear of change? Or is it time to overcome that fear and realize your true potential and assume your new position!

Refocus and build on the skills you have already developed. It's comforting to know that the experiences you've gained - whether in leadership, managing a team, as a professional streamlining processes or providing high-level expertise, strategy and support - are not lost. They evolve with you. 

This perspective is an important reminder that change does not always mean starting all over again, but rather growing into new possibilities with everything you have already learned.

Your skills don't just expire because you change careers. They evolve, expand and open doors you didn't even know existed. Your skills don't just expire because you change careers. They evolve, expand and open doors you didn't even know existed!

The harsh reality of work happiness

Only 23% of workers find their work meaningful and feel connected to their colleagues. Less than a quarter of workers are truly happy, and that's when everything is going well.

Source: "State of the Workplace" from Gallup

A bizarrely low percentage, but frankly it does not surprise me. During my 20 years in corporate business, I have also seen it and experienced it myself. And changes often played a big role in that. Changes of CEO, changes of management, changes due to acquisitions, changes due to merges. Each change was often another dip in job happiness and caused additional turmoil in the workplace.

Even now as an entrepreneur and CEO of my own company, I experience this, of course. Because let's face it, entrepreneurship is great and challenging, and also has its quirks, its peaks and valleys.

And just like after every storm, the calm usually returns and you carry on 'just'. Until the moment that 'just' comes at the expense of yourself, your life, your health and happiness. That you have actually known for a long time that you are no longer in the right place, and that you have more to get in you and out of life. And the rat race, your 'ordinary' daily routine in which you are lived, you want to leave for peace, freedom and fulfillment.

Then you can stay put and "hope" it gets better, or you choose to change because you want and have to do things differently. 

But why don't you make that change? Is it from fear of losing and not knowing what's coming? What is holding you back?

The power of questions: what is your common thread?

Two crucial questions to ask yourself if you are afraid to change careers and/or your business:

1. What comes next? What opportunities lie ahead for me?
2. Am I giving up everything I've done before? Is it a waste of my experience and expertise?

That second question is especially difficult, because it feels negative. Change often feels like loss. Like throwing away and leaving behind everything you feel comfortable and familiar with, in exchange for an unknown set of burdens and uncertainties that lie ahead.

But that is not true. There is an important difference between leaving something behind and building on something. Why do you stay in a job, position, business that you are not fulfilling or in a relationship that no longer supports and serves you (whether business or personal)? 

Economists call this: Sunk Cost Fallacy. A nice way is to describe this human impulse: We believe it is worthwhile to keep doing something because we have already invested in it. As also:

Resistance to change: stick to outdated or ineffective routines and processes because that's how you've always done and used them.

Fear of failure: recognizing a wrong decision often sees you as a failure, leading to the continuation of suboptimal work and results.

But sticking with ineffective strategies can actually hinder renewal and innovation. Because if you do what you've always done, you already know what you're getting. And continuing with unproductive activities (both in time, energy, revenue and satisfaction converted) can damage the efficiency and success of your career/business, as well as your health and happiness in life. And then you are further from home.

Because when you are stuck in something that is not worth pursuing, you do not allow yourself the other possibilities that you could also pursue. The fear of starting over is an illusion. That is a fallacious fallacy, a Gremlin as I call impeding thoughts.

You can overcome the Sunk Cost Fallacy by basing your decisions on future growth, costs and benefits rather than the past and losses. By evaluating regularly and being willing to change course. As a result, you will be better able to make powerful choices and rational decisions based on future value rather than past investments.

The solution: define your core skills. Determine your core skills! What tasks do you perform on a daily basis? And what underlying skills do you use to do so? What is your unique common thread? How can you translate your common thread into seemingly "different" work.

Because I myself was working in the same industry for many years. And almost everyone also stayed in this industry and at most made a switch to another corporate business or stakeholder, but all in the same industry. I also could not have imagined (at the time he 😉, now I know what is possible) that I would pursue my career elsewhere. Let alone start my own business.

How do you discover your common thread?

Make a list of your daily tasks. Then think about the underlying skills that enable you to perform those tasks. Note that this is where many start to think in a skewed way: Your tasks are not skills. Your tasks are expressions of skills. What single skill do you possess that enables you to accomplish all of your tasks?

When you get this clear, it opens up a world of new possibilities. Suddenly you see how you can use your existing skills in a new context. If you only think of yourself as, say, "coach," your options are very limited. But if you think of yourself as "someone who makes value insightful, can take complex things and translate and communicate them in simple ways," your options expand. Be creative and brainstorm new directions - consulting, communications, profiling/presentation, and so on.

This gives you a different way of thinking. And that's what it's all about. Because changing doesn't mean starting over. You don't give up everything you did before. You build on top of it and you build on it. You're bang on about something. I'm darn good at something. Over the course of our careers and lives, we have enriched, deepened and refined that talent, expertise and value. We've tested it against the real world. We've built knowledge around it. And all of that is in you and mine is in me. It's with us. It stays with us. Wherever we go and whatever position we are/are in.

Start editing your old story and write your new story with your idea of how you can solve this new problem today! This is the difference between leaving something behind and building on something.

Here's the bottom line: Change does not mean starting over. You don't give up everything you did before, but build on your expertise and value. You start using and leveraging your expertise and value differently from now on, making your impact and building your own legacy. Which in turn you pass on to others to help them grow further.

What is your legacy? What is your legacy?

What do you want people to say about you when you're gone? What impact do you want to make? What is your legacy?

To "leave something behind" is to start over - and that's not actually what happens when you leave something behind. Instead, you take what you had before and build on that, or use the "old" in a different way that makes you excellent in the new. You face new challenges, and you find new purpose in your new life and career/business. You discover instincts, skills and value you didn't know you had. You are prepared in ways you didn't know.

And to be clear, you don't have to make a huge change to make your impact and live up to your legacy. 

The essence of future-fit leadership is being healthy in life and living your dream life in addition to realizing your successes and growth in business. You are mentally fit and physically strong to perform well and achieve healthy business results and profitable successes. Which also makes you financially fit, independent and free to spend your time and energy on those things and people that really matter.

Stay true to yourself, and the people you surround yourself with and move forward. Provide a solid foundation upon which you stand strong and upon which you can build.

Women, time to stand up, scale up and make massive impact.

What is your Legacy?

 One Life. Lead it. Live it.

Have a great week,

Gerdi

When you are ready for your transformation to success and growth for the future

✅ Ready to do things differently? Start to Lead your Life and Business including Leaders of the Future Community

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✅ Working together on the new future and focusing on healthy living, leadership and entrepreneurship? Life, Leadership & Legacy including The high-value Health & Business Leadership Club

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Book tips:

Books that have helped me:

Strategy

John Lewis Gaddis - On strategic thinking
Patrick-Bet David & Greg Dinkin - Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
Alex Hormozi – $100M Leads
Alex Hormozi – $100M Offers

Leadership & Entrepreneurship

The Diary of a CEO - Steven Bartlett
Tribes - Seth Godin
Principles - Ray Dalio
The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
Leaders Eat Last - Simon Sinek
Leading From The Emerging Future - C Otto Scharmer
Transformational Presence - Alan Seale
The Big Leap - Gay Hendricks

PS. I have a whole book list. If you are interested and would like to receive my favorite books list? Send me a message and I'll send you my favorites list. 

Divide = multiply.

As a Visionary and Strategic Leader of Your Future 

Living and Entrepreneurship on Your Own Terms